Monday Excerpts

I asked on Facebook yesterday what today’s topic should be and WIPs have it. Because I know that if you’ve just finished a book, you may not have one, I won’t limit it to unfinished works. So post the first 300 words of you WIP or a book you just finished.

Here’s mine from my WIP, who’s working title is Lady Mary (that will change.) I’ve really missed writing the story as all the marketing for The Seduction of Lady Phoebe has taken priority during the past couple of weeks.

August, 1816, near Market Harborough, England

Even though they were experiencing one of their few warm days this summer, a log crackled in the fireplace of the dower house’s elegant first floor morning room. Lady Mary Tolliver stared at her grandmother, the Dowager Countess of Barham. Her thick silver hair was fashionable dressed, and even at more than seventy years, her face held few lines. Her gaze seemed as sharp as ever. In all, she looked the picture of health, excerpt for the burst of incipient insanity, for that was all it could be.

Mary opened her mouth, then closed it again. Several moments passed in silence as she struggled make sense of what she thought she’d heard. Finally she said, “Surely, I have not understood you properly. You want me to do what?”

“Well I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

Mary shifted her gaze to her widowed aunt, Lady Eunice Phipson. Perhaps madness had always run in the family, and it was kept a secret so as not to ruin the family socially. After all, who would deliberately marry into a family where lunacy was rampant?

“He has a face like a fish.” Aunt Eunice opened her eyes wide and moved her lips in a fair imitation of fish’s.

“Hake.” Grandmamma nodded decisively. “It’s the way his eyes protrude.”

Mary closed her eyes, repressing a shudder. “I agree, but there must be less drastic measures I can take.”

Grandmamma leaned forward and pounded her cane on the floor. “He may look like a fool, my girl, but he’s canny, and, if what Cook told me is true, which I have no doubt it is, he almost caught you yesterday.”

Come on, be brave. Let’s see yours.

 

 

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Sunday News!

The Seduction of Lady Phoebe

Good afternoon. The big news for the week is the RomCom blog tour and contest I’m with New York Times Bestseller Eileen Dreyer! Please stop by, enter the contest for a pre-loaded Kindle Fire and leave a comment!

I’m also on Fresh Fiction talking about secondary characters! I’ll post the link as soon as I receive it.

Please come by and tell me what you think about secondary characters having their own points of view in a story!

We also have book winners!

Sheila has won a copy of The Seduction of Lady Phoebe from Barbara Bettis’s blog.

Lyn Horner has won a copy of Elf Ahearn’s book Lord Monroe’s Dark Tower.

I was paddle boarding yesterday and wasn’t able to take many pictures. I think a digital, waterproof camera is going on my wish list. I paddled out to just past the last white house, traversed the bay, then came back along the buoy line where I saw three baby sea turtles.

The beach has changed again. Here are a couple of pictures of where the steep drop off was last week.

Thank you for all your support, and I hope you’ll continue to stick with me as the blog tour for The Seduction of Lady Phoebe draws to a close.

Have a great Sunday and a wonderful week.

Ella

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RomCom Contest and Blog Tour

I’m participating in a RomCom blog tour with Eileen Dreyer, Jade Lee, Sarah Ramsey, and Jeannie Lin. Today it’s my turn. Please come by and visit, and enter the contest if you haven’t already!!

The Seduction of Lady Phoebe

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Spotlight on Historical Author Elf Ahearn

I’m still visiting Alison Stuart’s Blog in Australia today.

In the meantime, please help me welcome Elf. I’m spotlighting her latest book, Lord Monroe’s Dark Tower, a copy of which she will giveaway to one commenter who says she wants the book. Afterward, I invite you to ask Elf anything you want concerning her writing or herself.

First the cover. Very lovely.

Now the blurb:

wo years of bewildering silence have passed since Claire Albright’s passions were first inflamed by powerful, brooding, Lord Flavian Monroe. On the brink of her London debut he unexpectedly summons her, asking for help to cure his ward’s hoarding. Embroiled in a desperate attempt to curb the child’s destructive madness, Claire struggles to understand why Flavian’s kisses veer from burning desire to icy rejection. Can she reach his heart before the child’s insanity undoes their chance at love?

When he was fourteen, Flavian made a mistake so devastating it ruined all hope for happiness. Years later, he’s still paying for his sin. But before his ward’s troubled mind destroys his home and family, he must see Claire once more. Vowing to keep their relationship professional—she the healer, he the guardian—he finds the bonds of his resolve snapping. Somehow, he must content himself with the love that could have been, but he cannot resist . . . one final embrace . . .

And an excerpt:

As if losing a battle for control, Flavian dropped to his knees at the far end of the settee and ran a hand along the exposed top of Claire’s foot. Light as a feather, he pushed the gown up past the beribboned binding of her slippers. At the exposure of her ankles, he drew a short breath. Fingertips jostled the bow and the silken ribbons unraveled, dropping like leaves. His hand lingered on the ridge of her shin before it brushed down to her ankle, circling the slim circumference. The heat of his palms, the strength of his fingers, sent a bolt of sensation to her core. For the first time, she became aware of a deep primal urge that made her pant slightly in the confining cloth of her undergarments. He lowered his head as if he were going to kiss the tender bone above the joint, and then, with obvious effort, controlled the impulse and sat back.

Once again, he seemed to lose the test of will, and his hand plunged between the arch of her foot and the slipper, his thumb tracing the crescent of her sole. Then her footwear clunked to the floor.

The next shoe came off more quickly, as if he could no longer wait for the appearance of her furthest extremity. Where the ribbons had strapped her flesh, cool air now stirred. His hands, hot and insistent, caressed her ankle, stroking the protruding nub of the heel. Again, he hesitated. Claire closed her eyes and stretched ever so slightly toward him, her body humming. He fingered her stocking-clad toes, tugged on each one, and then slipped a finger between her big and index toe. A gasp escaped her lips, and her body shook with sensation.

Instantly, he bolted to his feet.

Overcome with shame, she sat up, avoiding his eyes. “How unseemly of me.”

Now, how can you not want to read this book!

BUY LINKS:

Amazon.com, Barnes& Noble and iTunes.

Elf Ahearn, yes, that is her real name, lives in New York with her wonderful husband and a pesky (yet irresistible) cat. Learn more about her at elfahearn.com or like her on Facebook.

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The Seduction of Lady Phoebe Release Tour Continues

Today I’ve got it together. I’m on All Season’s Blog, and, if we have our time zones right, Alison Stuart’s blog in Australia, where Friday is on our Thursday, and they open for business later. At both sites I’m giving away a copy of The Seduction of Lady Phoebe!!

Please visit me for a chance to win and just say hi.

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Back on Tour

I’m visiting Barbara Bettis today. I’m also on Bookworm 2 Bookworm and Manic Reader.
Please stop by for a chance to win a copy of The Seduction of Lady Phoebe!

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Monday Excerpts!

In celebration of my debut release, I invite you to post any excerpt or blurb you like. The only rules is that it must be PG and no longer than 300 words. Don’t forget your buy or social medial links.

Here is mine from The Seduction of Lady Phoebe.

As Marcus turned to leave, someone began pounding on a door at the far end of the hall. From the almost unintelligible words of love coming from the young blood attempting to lay siege to the chamber, it appeared the young man was in his altitudes, and he’d found Phoebe. At least Marcus didn’t think the idiot would be reciting bad poetry to anyone else. Damn.

Much to his disgust, Marcus recognized something of his own prior behavior toward Phoebe in the drunken young man. With long strides, Marcus quickly covered the distance to her door. Taking the other man by his coat collar, Marcus picked him up, and shook him. Hard. In a low, fierce growl, he said, “You, my lad, are leaving with me now, and you will not return to bother this lady again. If you do, I shall take great delight in breaking every bone in your body.”

Through the fellow’s alcoholic haze, he tried to focus on his tormentor. Marcus received a grim satisfaction at the fear in the blood’s eyes. Marcus slowly lowered the younger man until his feet touched the floor, then Marcus guided the buck down the hall to the stairs and out the front door, handing him over to one of the ostlers still on duty.

Marcus scowled. “Take this fool, and do not allow him back in the inn.”

The ostler eyed Marcus cautiously. “But, my lord, he’s stayin’ here.”

He fixed the ostler with a cold, hard glare. “I don’t give a damn where he is staying. He was bothering a female guest. You will not allow him back in the inn, or you’ll answer to me.”

Available now in paperback and e-book. Buy links: Amazon US ~ Amazon UK  ~  Amazon France ~  Amazon Germany   ~ Amazon Canada ~  Barns & Nobel  ~ Kensington ~ iTunes ~ Kobo

 

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Sunday News!

Welcome back to Sunday News!

As most of you know, it’s been a big week for me. My debut novel, The Seduction of Lady Phoebe, released on Thursday, and took off. By 3late that evening it was #23 on Amazon’s Hot New Historical Romance Releases, and climbed to 53 on their bestseller’s list in Regency. I could not have asked for a better debut!!

Heroes and Heartbreakers did a fabulous review. It’s here if you’d like to read it.

I was also on USA Today’s HEA.

For those who’d prefer print, the book is now out in paperback through Amazon.

I’ve joined with the wonderful Eileen Dreyer, Jade Lee, Jeannie Lin, and Sara Ramsey for a RomCon contest. The prize is a preloaded Kindle. Here is the first post.

I’m still on the release blog tour, and will post where I’ll be here. After that I’m back to my regular schedule.

The beach is changing again. If you remember last week, this part was completely full of water from the mangrove swamp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a photo of how part of the coastline has changed.

 

These rocks were surrounded by sand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water was really a beautiful bluey-green. I tried to capture it.

I almost forgot, I received the cover blurb for the 4th book in The Marriage Game, Desiring Lady Caro, which means I should get the cover soon.  It will release in April. Here is the blurb.

Ella Quinn’s bachelors are clever, charismatic—and determined to remain single. Yet one by one, they find that fate—and certain irresistible women—cast doubt on even the best laid plans… 

Haunted by her past, Lady Caroline Martindale fled England for the solace of her godmother’s palazzo in Venice. But if Caro was hoping to escape the charms of marriage-minded men, she’s come to the wrong place. And she’ll resort to extreme measures to spurn the advances of a dangerously determined Venetian marquis…

Though most of his friends have married off, Gervais, Earl of Huntley, remains bent on eluding the parson’s mousetrap. But his convictions begin to falter when he arrives in Venice and meets his match in the alluring Lady Caro. What began as a hastily concocted lie to save her from the marquis may become a chance for them both to relinquish their fear—and embrace what they can no longer deny…

 

What’s your week been like?

Have a great Sunday and a wonderful week!

 

Ella

 

 

 

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What Editors Are Looking For In Historical Fiction, by Jane Johnson

Interesting article.

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The Seduction of Lady Phoebe by Ella Quinn

I found this wonderful review of The Seduction of Lady Phoebe!!

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